'WE' AND 'THEY'. THE MEDIA DISCOURSE USED TO INFORM ABOUT THE WAR IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA ('MI' i 'ONI' u diskursu ratnog izvestavanja. Diskurs medija i tratno izvestavanje na prostoru nekadasnje Jugoslavije)

Although several studies in Serbia have dealt with the role of the media in the wars in the former Yugoslavia, it turned out that a more comprehensive analysis of the war reporting discourse requires a comparative study of several war conflicts in a similar media context. The article explores discourse-language characteristics used in the media to develope empathy with one side of the conflict and negative representation of the other side on the example of the three war conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The analysed corpus of texts consists of parts of television programs and newspaper articles of the media close to the state structures whose military formations were involved in the conflict. The text and television bulletin are the basic units of analysis, with critical discourse analysis theoretical aproach. According to the analysis of the position of participants and actions in the conflict and determining their semantic position in relation to the deictic center of the journalist speaker, it has been found that during the first conflict analysed, the 'Ten-day War' in Slovenia, both televisions were gradually building an attitude towards one of the sides in the conflict, as if it being a part of their own identity. The war propaganda mechanisms were used in the complete reporting about the 'Marcale Masacre', by means of which alongside the war formations the whole nations were designated as enemies, with numerous examples of ethnicism in language. A similar treatment of the opposite side has been noticed in the third study, 'Operation Storm', but a critical approach was also made on the position of the Serbian media towards one of the groups of participants in the conflict (military and political leaders of rebelian Serbs), up to that time an integral part of the Serbian side, alongside the policy of the media which no longer gave full support to the continuation of the war. On the level of the language structure, there are marked categories which have been noticed, depending on their use with the aim to express a subjective attitude towards a group of participants. Typical means of favouring are: positive qualificatives, hyperbolic expressions, euphemisms, modal verbs and passive constructions, while for disqualification negative qualificatives, as well as abusive expressions and pejoratives are applied.